TORREYA 



Vol. 39 May-June, 1939 No. 3 



Guide to the Lichens of the New York Area — Part 2 



G. G. Nearing 



Group 4. Lichens more or less stalked, but the stalks and 



branches (or lobes) having the structure of the Papery 



Lichens (Groups 5 to 12), showing an upper and an under 



side different in texture and usually in color. 



Some members of this group could easily be placed in Group 



5, but in the main, their appearance is intermediate between 



the Stalked and the Papery Lichens, and they pass between 



the preceding and following groups in a sort of sequence. The 



lines of separation, however, between Group 4 and Groups 5 



and 6, are arbitrary, not natural. It is simply more convenient 



to treat them as three groups than as one. 



Evernia prunastri. Flabby Lichen 



Also called E. thamnodes or Letharia thamnodes. 



Evernias are found plentifully in the Catskills and Shawan- 

 gunks, but seldom on the lower ridges. They vary considerably 

 in form. E. prunastri looks like a wilted Ramalina, gray-green 

 or straw-color, and more or less hanging from twigs and branches 

 of trees, or plastered against their bark. It may grow to 10 cm. 

 or more in length, and the wider parts of the branches spread 

 to 5 mm. or more. The upper or outer surface is ridged, and 

 roughened with warty soredia, and with small coral-like out- 

 growths which often give it a slightly fuzzy appearance, sug- 

 gesting E. furfuracea. The under side is not always apparent, 

 but by looking carefully, parts of the flattened stalk will be 

 seen to have patches of pale, silky under-surface, with ribs 

 and net-like veins, but not roughened. 



Fruits, almost never seen, would be brown, cupped disks 

 along the branches, and up to 7 mm. across. Spores, undivided, 

 5 to 7 by 3 to 4 microns. 



Evernia prunastri was once used by the Egyptians in making 

 bread. There is some question whether the plant in the New 



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